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Fibre optic Internet is spreading in Amman

By Jean-Claude Elias - Jan 05,2017 - Last updated at Jan 05,2017

For many years now, there have been alternatives to the imperfections and the shortcomings of copper-based ADSL Internet. The better solutions, however, have so far been expensive and accessible only to corporations and large organisations. For the vast majority of home, private users and small companies, copper-based ADSL had remained the feasible, affordable way to go.

One of the alternatives that drastically boost Internet performance is the fibre optic (FO) cable, as compared to the older, more traditional copper cable. Since last summer Amman has seen a major upgrade of the Internet cabling infrastructure, and FO seems to be going everywhere. Most service providers operating in the country, like for example Orange, Zain, Vtel or Damamax, are installing FO everywhere in the capital city. In the past two months alone, countless streets have received FO cabling, where only copper was used.

When FO replaces copper what it brings about is not a minor improvement. It is not about going a bit faster, but more like trading a bicycle for a car. It is reasonable to assume that the vast majority of us would gladly do the change, given our exponentially growing need for Internet bandwidth and uptime.

When you move to FO Internet connectivity the benefit is threefold. First come download and browsing speeds of course. On average it would be four to six times faster — again, not a minor improvement. You can easily imagine how you can put this to good use.

The second obvious benefit is an upload speed that is closer to the download speed, whereas with “traditional” ADSL there is a frustrating and significant imbalance between the two values.

Last but not least FO connectivity ensures more uptime and less “hiccups”, those exasperating interruptions that we all experience now and then. In short, FO brings a more stable, a more reliable connection to the web.

With time (very little time, usually…) nothing stays the same in the realm of IT. Our steadily increasing dependence on the network, be it to exchange large audiovisual contents, or to process and store more data in the cloud, combined with the drop in FO cabling prices, it all comes together to make fast and reliable Internet a necessity, certainly not a luxury. In only a few months the average price of the FO cable has gone down from three to under one Jordanian dinar.

Moreover, the quality of the FO cables that are now manufactured, the number of channels they can carry per core, and even their intrinsic physical flexibility, all these characteristics have improved and made the technology essential.

 

2017 is expected to bring to citizens a noticeable improvement in Internet usage thanks to a more global FO infrastructure. There can only be positive consequences for all, whether in business or in private use.

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